What’s on the menu at Arthur’s Restaurant, Midtown’s sleek new American-style throwback

What’s on the menu at Arthur’s Restaurant, Midtown’s sleek new American-style throwback

Name: Arthur’s Restaurant
Contact: 12 St. Clair Ave E., 647-348-7000, arthursrestaurant.ca, @arthursrestaurant
Neighbourhood: Deer Park
Previously: Timothy’s World Coffee
Owner: Chase Hospitality Group (The Chase, the Chase Fish and Oyster, Kasa Moto, Colette Grand Café, Planta, Planta Burger, Palm Lane)
Chef: Chief of culinary Tyler Shedden (Chase Hospitality Group, Café Boulud) and chef de cuisine Jason Hajek

The food

Contemporary takes on American classics, like oysters Rockefeller, lobster thermidor and New York cheesecake. Chase Hospitality Group president Steven Salm says these dishes were among the favourites of his late father, Arthur. The menu is also strong on plant-based items, including a chopped salad, mushroom paté and a lasagna made with almond béchamel. Coming soon: lunch service, and weekend brunch with something called Arthur’s Tower—an array of smoked fish, fresh bagels and all the fixings.

The matzo ball soup is Shedden’s grandmother’s recipe. $12.05.

 

Shrimp and avocado salad with Marie Rose dressing. $17.

 

The tuna tartare is seasoned with sauce ravigote (a French version of salsa verde with anchovies, shallots, and herbs) and topped with fried capers and dried tomato petals. $23.

 

The Dungeness crab cake features chunks of crab meat sandwiched between a pan-fried breadcrumb base and a kataifi upper crust. It’s served with sauce gribiche. $39.

 

Creole salmon comes with braised celery and dressed with herb-speckled and creole-spiced tomato beurre blanc. $31.05.

 

The vegan lasagna features almond milk béchamel, tomato sauce and house-made cashew mozzarella. $24.

 

The baba au rhum, with caramelized and fresh pineapple, is topped with Chantilly and lime zest. $14.

 

Caramelized milk New York cheesecake sits in a pool of passion fruit sauce. $14.

 

Shedden (left) and Hajek.

 

Left to right: Hajek, Salm and Shedden.

 

The drinks

The focus here is on cocktails: signature martinis, original creations using house-made infusions, and classics made with American spirits from the pre-Prohibition era.

Available in three or five ounces, the savoury olive oil martini is made with olive oil-washed vodka and dry vermouth. $17 and $26.

 

Arthur’s manhattan is made with dried cherry-infused bourbon, sweet vermouth, Cynar, cardamom bitters and Angostura. The drink is poured over a branded ice cube garnished with house-made bourbon-and baking spice-soaked cherries. $18.

 

The North Shore is made with Olmeca Altos Plata tequila, mescal, Cointreau, grapefruit and lime. It’s finished with black salt and egg white. $19.

 

The Roaring 20s is a cava-based Arthur’s original that features dry vermouth, lemon, sirop de citron, muddled grapes and fresh mint. $17.

 

The space

Taking up more than two storeys of the Weston Centre, Arthur’s can seat 156 guests between two distinct dining rooms: the airy, octagon-shaped Crystal Dining Room and a cozy lounge. A 60-seat 2,000-square-foot rooftop terrace will open later this year.

Here’s the lounge.

 

And again.

 

And one more time.

 

And this is the Crystal Dining Room.

 

Photo by Elaine Fancy